AND THEN I WROTE ...

...that as we measured yet another inch of drought relief one day recently, making it something close to ten inches of rain this June, we remembered the old saw in agriculture that "rain makes grain." If that is the case, we should have abundant crops of grain this year in northeast Iowa.
In fact the crops...oats, corn and soybeans...do look great, except for those low spots where there is standing water. And I noticed on a recent drive in the county that there were a lot of low, wet spots.
It was raining again this morning, still in late June, as I sat at the computer.
There is a once-popular song which includes the words "it's been a good year for the roses." That seems to be true of all the flowers this late spring and early summer. I have remarked here before that almost every home seems to have at least a few flowers, and many have many of them. They are really showing well this year.
My garden may or may not be appreciating all the moisture. As parents of babies often remark about their newborns, there have not been many dry periods recently. Things seem to be growing well, but it has been difficult to cultivate and control weeds because it has been too wet to work.
This was the year, with more time in retirement, that I intended to augment my garden's poor soil and offset the ravages of the neighbor's walnut tree by using Miracle-Gro plant food liberally. The only problem is, the stuff is water soluble. So I have felt like a heel, pouring more liquid over an already wet surface. Sort of like forcing a drowning man to drink a glass of water!
On that same recent drive I also noticed the verdant hills of the county. The abundant rainfall seems to have encouraged dense woods and forest trees and shrubs to put forth extra leaves. Some places have that rain forest look.
And speaking of forests, "how's that for a segue?" reminds us of a recent missive from the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. Effigy Mounds was on the route of that same trip, and that was the subject of the mailing from the INHF. The foundation was asking for donations in the form of private money to help with the purchase of the so-called 1,045-acre Heritage Addition to Effigy Mounds National Monument in southeast Allamakee County. A large part of that addition is what is called locally the Ferguson-Kistler tract. Money raised this way will be matched by the state and another foundation. In other words, even a minimal gift of $25 is actually worth triple that amount. That minimum gift also makes you a member of the INHF and makes you a subscriber to its quarterly magazine.
I opted to send a gift. I had seen the magazine in my capacity as newspaper editor and it is a dandy. I also had occasion to talk to some INHF folks in that same capacity, and they were always open and helpful.
Serving on the advisory board for this current project are such as Waukon-born Phyllis Ewing, now superintendent at Effigy Mounds; the Raleigh Buckmasters of Lansing; former Waukon area resident Pat Heidenreich; and outdoor writer Larry Stone, whose articles are well known locally.
I don't know how my name got on the INHF's mailing list. Perhaps because I subscribe to the Iowa Conservationist.
If you did not get a mailing, and would be interested, I am certain you could get all the information needed from those mentioned. Or, call 1-800-475-1846, or check out the website at www.inhf.org.
Effigy Mounds is a great tourist attraction for our county. On that ordinary day in June as I passed, the parking lot was filled with cars.